A Follower In Fifteen
by Tristifico
Summary: My take on how the young Tom Riddle gained his early followers. Set in his seventh year. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I have only my dreams and nothing else. No infringement is intended.

Ok. This is my first fic, so it probably isn't very good, and not to mention that it was scribbled in ten minutes. This was inspired by Lady Lestrange's one-shot about Tom Riddle as Head Boy. I thought that it was a very good representation of him.

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**Fifteen Minutes a Follower**

Adrienne Greengrass and her friends, Vivien Parkinson and Morgana Bulstrode, were seated in front of the blazing fire in the Slytherin Common Room, having managed to grab the warmest places in the large, damp dungeon. They were laughing and talking about her latest hex on a Gryffindor, when a prefect approached. He cleared his throat loudly, and the group of first-year girls looked up at him.

"Yes, Malfoy?" Adrienne asked, not the slightest least intimidated by the fact that the tall seventh-year prefect was nearly twice her height, and that he was blatantly trying to peer down her blouse. "What is it?"

"You lost forty points from Slytherin today, Greengrass, and you know that you'll have to answer to Tom," Malfoy said. "Come along now, he's in his room. You've earned yourself a _private_ meeting with the Head Boy."

"Ooh!" Vivien exclaimed, while Morgana choked on her large mouthful of pumpkin juice and cupped her hands quickly over her mouth in order to prevent juice from spewing over everyone around her. "Are you learning from Priscilla Parkinson, Adrienne? You know, that fifth year girl who gets into trouble nearly everyday just to meet up with Tom Riddle? I've heard that she actually has a –_special_ robe for the occasion!"

Adrienne bestowed her fiercest glare on Vivien, wishing that her friend's head could turn into a giant pumpkin. In a twisted way, her wish was granted when Morgana, who had been writhing around on the sofa, gave up the struggle and Vivien's face and robes were soaked in pumpkin juice. Leaving Vivien to pick up the heavy Transfiguration textbook and chase Morgana around the room, she got up and turned to face Malfoy. "Ladies first," he said, with an accompanying smirk that Adrienne did not like a single bit, but she merely narrowed her eyes at him and went down the dimly lit stairs that led to the boys' dormitories. The first landing they passed by led to the first year boys' dorm, the second landing belonged to the second years, and on and on and on. Adrienne looked around in interest, as she had gone down into the boys' dorms only twice before. Suddenly, a large arm shot out, dangerously near her chest, and she yelped and jumped back.

"What the hell was that for, Malfoy? Trying to molest young girls like me when no one's watching?" she snapped angrily. "Keep your hands and arms to yourself!"

"So sorry," he drawled, "Unfortunate accident. I tripped and had to steady myself on the wall." Then the two of them continued down, right until they reached the bottom of the staircase. _We're probably in the bowels of the school,_ Adrienne thought. _That staircase wasn't exactly a short one._ The steps ended in a small, circular room, and barely five steps away was a single door. The golden words that spelled 'Head Boy' gleamed and caught flashes of the flickering candlelight that lined the circular room. Somehow, it was oddly forbidding, though Adrienne was no stranger to the dark.

Malfoy stepped forward, imperiously, and knocked firmly on the door. "Come in," said a clear male voice, and Malfoy opened the door. "Tom? Here's Greengrass." He pushed Adrienne into the room, and quickly shut the door. She heard brisk footsteps going up the stairs, this time without any kind of accident at all, and suddenly she felt slightly nervous, being in the Head Boy rooms for the first time. Stalling for time, she looked around, noting that although the room was quite big, it was not extravagantly furnished, having only simple but elegant furniture. The only touch of opulence was the thick dark green carpet below her that was patterned with snakes. It was also very neat, unlike what she had seen so far of the boys' dorms. The Head Boy himself was seated in a large armchair, sipping from a glass of wine, but his eyes were unsettlingly fixed on her. Adrienne forced a smile to her face. "Riddle," she greeted him cordially. He nodded.

"Sit down," Tom Riddle said, gesturing lazily to the opposite armchair. She sat. "I hear that Professor Dumbledore took forty points off Slytherin for a hexing a Gryffindor and gave you a week's worth of detention during Transfiguration today. Would you care to explain why?"

"Weasley insulted me, Riddle. He called me, to quote, "a know-it-all who licks the teachers' boots.", and also said that my mother was a slut who only knew how to be pretty. So I hexed him into a girl," she answered, smirking as she remembered that Gavain Weasley had become Gavina Weasley until Dumbledore transfigured his, no, her flimsy lace robes back into the normal school ones, muttered a spell that cleaned off the heavy makeup caked on his face, and sent him wailing to the school nurse. Madam Abbott had taken nearly two hours to change Weasley back into a boy.

An eyebrow rose. "That's magic you shouldn't be learning at this age, Miss Greengrass. I suppose you found it in your family library?" He was still looking intently at her, Adrienne realized. She badly wanted to look down at the floor, but she forced herself to gaze back calmly at him. Tom Riddle leaned slightly across the coffee table. "Are you a Slytherin or not, Adrienne?"

"What?" she asked, caught by the unexpectedness of the question. "Of course I'm a Slytherin!"

Then she realized that he had used her first name, and she fidgeted uncomfortably. _Could she call him Tom?_

"Ah." he murmured. "Then you should know better than to get caught." He smiled sweetly at her, an expression that would surely have made Vivien swoon. Adrienne kept her face straight, though, fighting not to let out a sigh. Thank the gods that she was not someone who blushed easily. "Tell me, what could you have done instead?"

_What could I have done? _"Hide my wand under the table… no, that stupid Dumbledore would have known… curse Weasley out of class?" she asked Tom. "Not a very innovative way, is it?" he replied. "Some other teacher would have caught you. You are smart, aren't you? Well, then, I'm sure that there are more _creative_ ways to curse Weasley." The word 'creative' was loaded with something more, something that Adrienne could not place, but she shivered slightly.

"A…a potion, perhaps?" she guessed. If that wasn't it, she didn't know what else she could have done. Short of using Dark Arts, of course, but she knew that she definitely did not want to be expelled.

"Correct. Now, see that big tome on the highest shelf? Go take it down from my bookshelf." Adrienne looked across the room and frowned. Surely Riddle knew that she was far too short to reach the highest shelf without help? Then again, perhaps he wanted to test her. Well, she would show him that she was a witch. She didn't need to resort to Muggle ways to fetch the book. There was a spell that she had read of once that would come in handy now, but she hadn't learnt it in class yet. _Well, might as well practice now…_

"_Accio book_!" she cried, concentrating on that heavy book, but she was still caught by surprise when the book flew towards her and slammed into her abdomen, knocking the wind out of her. Adrienne heard a low chuckle and started up, hardly believing that she had heard Tom Riddle laugh. He always seemed like the serious kind.

"Go on. Open it."

She carefully opened the old book, gasping unintentionally as she saw the cover: Moste Potente Potions. It was in her family library, but her parents had forbidden her to read it until she was older. And now Tom Riddle, of all people, was lending it to her? But who was she to refuse it? "Are you lending it to me?" she asked him, barely concealing her eagerness. Again, that low chuckle.

"Yes, of course. I trust you know what to do with it, Adrienne. Don't get caught again, though." he answered, a ghost of a smirk crossing his face. "Make me proud." This time, Adrienne matched his smirk. "All right. You may leave now," he said, and Adrienne laughed and stood up. At the doorway, she paused and turned back. "Thank you, Tom Riddle," she said, and blew a kiss at him before sweeping out of the room. She heard his laughter as she closed the door behind her and ran up the stairs.

She got back to the common room, still clutching the old book, and caught Malfoy's eye. He gave her a knowing look, and she held up the book for him to see. Malfoy laughed, shook his head, and turned away to speak to his friends.

"So, Adrienne, what did you gain from our most wonderful Head Boy?" Vivien asked. Adrienne grinned at her. "You'll see in… oh, maybe a month's time, Vivien. Just watch Gavain Weasley…" Then she rushed off to talk to the potions teacher, also the Head of House, and possibly coax him into giving her some potion ingredients. Oh, she was very happy indeed.

Back in the Head Boy rooms, Tom Riddle sipped his wine and smiled, a slow, knowing smile that promised great things in the future. It had taken less than fifteen minutes, but Adrienne Greengrass had went away happy, and he had just gained another likely follower who was smart and powerful. Who was he to complain?

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So how was it? Review please! 


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